Most voters believe public release of U.S. secret and confidential documents hurts national security, and they consider the leaking of such information to be an act of treason.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 72% of Likely Voters say that when media outlets release secret government documents, they are hurting national security rather than providing a public service. Only 14% believe the opposite is true and that the media is serving the public. Just as many (14%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

In August, following the publication of secret U.S. documents related to the war in Afghanistan on the WikiLeaks Internet site, 67% of U.S. voters said the release of this kind of information hurts national security, while 19% believed it provided a public service.

Fifty-one percent (51%) of voters consider the leaking of these classified documents an act of treason. Twenty-eight percent (28%) disagree and do not think leaking such information is treasonous. Another 21% are undecided.

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted November 29-30, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Rasmussen Reports is a media company specializing in the collection,
publication and distribution of public opinion information.

We conduct public opinion polls on a variety of topics to inform our audience on events
in the news and other topics of interest. To ensure editorial control and independence,
we pay for the polls ourselves and generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions,
sponsorships, and advertising. Nightly polling on politics, business and lifestyle topics
provides the content to update the Rasmussen Reports web site many times each day.
If it's in the news, it's in our polls. Additionally, the data drives a
daily update newsletter and various media outlets
across the country.